Rural mail boxes

ABSTRACT

The box has a vertically slideable flag normally housed at the back thereof and maintained therein by registration of the rear end of an elongated rod in a hole in the flag. The rod has a block-like magnet on the front end thereof adjacent the closed box door. The latter has on the inside thereof a magnetizeable block complementary to and, when the door is closed, in alignment with the magnet. When the door is opened the magnetic attraction between the two blocks causes the rod to be pulled forward out of the hole in the flag to let the flag drop to exposed position. After the flag is pushed back up to its original position a spring restores the rod to registration in the hole in the flag.

United States Patent Scheerer {451 July 11, 1972 s41 RURAL MAIL BOXES 3,080,107 .3/1963 Lindahl ..232/35 3,017,073 1/ 1962 Piergiovanni.... [72] Inventor: Ernest 0. Scheerer, 777 Vaugn Avenue,

. Toms River NJ. 08753 2,496,691 2/1950 Berry ..292/25.15

[22] Filed: Nov. 9, 1970 Primary Examiner-Bobby R. Gay

Appl. No.: 88,010

Assistant Examiner-Peter A. Aschenbrenner Attorney-F rank Ledermann ABSTRACT The box has a vertically slideable flag normally housed at the back thereof and maintained therein by registration of the rear end of an elongated rod in a hole in the flag. The rod has a.

2 Claim, 7 Drawing figures PKTENTEDJUL n 1912 3.675.845

FIGJ

\ L I I (I/IIIIlIII/llr r II/ o INVENTOR. ERNEST O. SCHEERER FIG.5 BY flm ATTORNEY RURAL MAIL BOXES This invention is an improvement over means disclosed in my US. Pat. No. 3,318,5l6, issued Mar. 9, 1967, for accomplishing a similar purpose. The essential difference between the present invention and such disclosure in the above patent consists in the substitution of releaseable or disconnectable magnetic interengaging means between the box door and the signal flag controlling rod for the permanently interengaging means of the patent.

Referring briefly to the drawing,

FIG. 1 is a vertical longitudinal sectional view of a rural mail box embodying the features of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken on the line 22 of FIG. 1, showing the flag in normal housed position.

FIG. 3 is a view similar to FIG. 2 but showing the flag in released, exposed position.

FIG. 4 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view taken on the line 44 of FIG. 3.

FIG. 5 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view taken on the line 5-5 of FIG. 2.

FIG. 6 is a fragmentary sectional view taken on the line 6- 6 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 7 is a fragmentary sectional view taken on the line 7 7 of FIG. 1.

Referring in detail to the drawing, the numeral 10 indicates a rural mail box which includes the flat bottom wall 11, the rear wall 12, the mutually parallel side walls 13, the top wall or roof 14 which may be arched, as shown, and the door 15 hinged at its lower edge in the usual well known manner. Preferably the entire box including the door is made of nonmagnetizeable material of which aluminum is an example.

Slidably supported in the aligned rings of longitudinally spaced ring bolts 16 depending from the roof 14 is a rod 17, preferably made of brass and having a length less than that of the box. On the front end of the rod a magnet 18 is secured; it may be of any suitable con formation such as, for example, that of a block in the form of a disc, as shown. So that its position with respect to the closed door may be made adjustable, the magnet 18 has a threaded hole 19 extending thereinto, into which the threaded forward end of the rod 17 is entered. A lock nut 20 on the rod locks the magnet in adjusted position.

Close to the rear wall 12, opposed vertical guide rails 21, shown as channel members, are secured in any desired manner against the side walls 13. A transverse slot 22 in the bottom wall lies in a common vertical plane with the rails 21. A signal plate or flag 23 lies in the same vertical plane and has a width such that its side edges ride slideably in the rail channels and the said slot. Close to its upper end the plate 23 has a hole 24 therethrough normally aligned with the rod I7 and into which a spring 25 normally urges the rear end of the rod and thus maintains the plate in its housed position shown in FIGS. 1 and 2.

Secured to the inside of the door 15 is a second block 26 of magnetizeable material, also shown as a disc and preferably having a configuration complementary to that of the magnet I8. The block 26 is so positioned on the door and secured thereto, as, for example, by means of a threaded stem 26a screwed into the door, as to be in alignment with and complementary to the magnet 18 when the door is closed, as shown in FIG. 1. With the door thus closed and the blocks 18 and 26 in mutual contact or at least very close to each other, it is apparent that the act of opening the door will cause the disc 26 to pull the magnet 18 and hence the rod 17 forward a distance before the magnetic attraction between the two will be broken. Such forward movement of the rod is sufficient to extract the rear end of the rod from the hole 24 in the plate, whence the latter will fall by gravity. A transverse stop member 27, which may be in the form of an angle member as shown, is secured in any desired manner to the plate just below the hole 24. When this stop meets the floor of the box the plate is stopped in downwardly projecting position whence it may be viewed from a distance and serve as a signal that mail has been deposited into the box.

When the owner of the box has taken his mail out of the box, he pushes the plate 23 upward to permit the rod 17 to reenter the hole 24. To facilitate this operation, a tapering groove 28 is provided in the forward face of the plate between the hole and the top edge of the plate, to present a thinned top edge 29 to the rear end of the rod. Thus the end of the rod will ride along the floor of the groove while being pushed forward against the force of the spring 25 until the hole becomes aligned with the rod, whence the spring will restore the rod into the position shown in FIG. 1.

Instead of the block 18 being a permanent magnet and the block 26 merely a magnetizeable member, the reverse may of course be true; or both blocks may be permanent magnets provided the lines of force of both blocks extend in the same direction along their axes.

It is to be noted that after the door has been closed it will never drop open or even partly open as doors of some rural mail boxes are prone to do. Further, all of the functioning parts of the device are protected from the weather since all are inside the box. In the case of mail boxes having a flag pivoted to a side wall thereof, the flag is subject to become frozen in position and immoveable because of frozen snow or ice encasmg it.

What is claimed is as follows:

1. A rural mail box including a bottom wall, a rear wall, side walls, a top wall and a hinged front door, said bottom wall having a transverse slot therethrough near the rear end thereof, a plate slidably mounted in a vertical plane through said slot, guide means in said box constraining said plate to movement in said plane, longitudinally spaced ring bolts suspended from said top wall and having the rings thereof aligned, a rod slidably mounted in said rings, said plate having a hole therethrough near the upper edge thereof, resilient means normally urging said rod rearward against said plate and into said hole when said plate is in its uppermost position within said box, stop means on said plate limiting said plate to a lowermost position wherein it is exposed below the box, said rod having a first block of magnetizeable material secured to the front end thereof, means adjustably securing said first block to said front end of said rod, said door having a second block of magnetizeable material on the inside thereof so positioned thereon as to be aligned with said first block when said door is closed, at least one of said blocks consisting of a permanent magnet, said rod having a length such that said first and second blocks are substantially in mutual contact when said door is closed whence opening of the door causes said second block to pull said first block and hence said rod forward to disengage said rod from said hole to permit said plate to fall to said lowermost position thereof.

2. A rural mail box according to claim 1, said guide means comprising opposed vertical channel rails on said side walls in the channels of which the vertical edges of said plate register. 

1. A rural mail box including a bottom wall, a rear wall, side walls, a top wall and a hinged front door, said bottom wall having a transverse slot therethrough near the rear end thereof, a plate slidably mounted in a vertical plane through said slot, guide means in said box constraining said plate to movement in said plane, longitudinally spaced ring bolts suspended from said top wall and having the rings thereof aligned, a rod slidably mounted in said rings, said plate having a hole therethrough near the upper edge thereof, resilient means normally urging said rod rearward against said plate and into said hole when said plate is in its uppermost position within said box, stop means on said plate limiting said plate to a lowermost position wherein it is exposed below the box, said rod having a first block of magnetizeable material secured to the front end thereof, means adjustably securing said first block to said front end of said rod, said door having a second block of magnetizeable material on the inside thereof so positioned thereon as to be aligned with said first block when said door is closed, at least one of said blocks consisting of a permanent magnet, said rOd having a length such that said first and second blocks are substantially in mutual contact when said door is closed whence opening of the door causes said second block to pull said first block and hence said rod forward to disengage said rod from said hole to permit said plate to fall to said lowermost position thereof.
 2. A rural mail box according to claim 1, said guide means comprising opposed vertical channel rails on said side walls in the channels of which the vertical edges of said plate register. 